Delivering Eight to Nine Millioi
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Packages Yearly
Se/fudge's Transport System Now Working at Full Pressure. Lasting Qualities of Wellmaintained Machines Demonstrated by Highly Efficient Performance qf Vehicles With Many Years of Reliable Serc.:ce to Their Credit
ATRANSPORT organization developed to a high degree of efficiency is indispensable to a big store such as that of Selfridge and Co., Ltd., Oxford Street, London, W.1, and at this time of the year, when the Christmas rush is probably at its peak. the dispatch and delivery departments are working to full capacity.
On a recent visit to this concern's depot in Irong-ate Wharf Road, Paddington, we obtained an insight into the organization that is responsible for the distribution, to their owners all Over the country, of the innumerable purchases made at the Oxford Street store, and learned details of some of the transport activities of its associated companies and provincial stores.
At the Irongate Wharf Road depot there are stock rooms, sorting and packing rooms, dispatch bays and accommodation for the 130 petrol, electric and horsed vehicles working from this centre.
At one end of the building there is a platform at which the vehicles running exclusively between this depot ant Oxford Street are unloaded, the smaller goods being conveyed in wheeled containers. These are run straight out of the vans into a lift, bulky articles being handled On the first floor the packages and parcels are sorted, some for town and suburban delivery, some for dispatch by rail, others by post. A number is post-dated and must, therefore, be stored until due for dispatch. Many of the articles require packing, a quantity addressing and labelling. Each, however, is put on to its appropriate travelling conveyor to the section of the department concerned.
For the sake of efficiency, the department is laid out in such a manner that all goods keep moving in one direction, whilst, with the object of maintaining constant progress, all sections are as small as practicable, the least congestion thus becoming intolerable.
Having reached the farther end of this floor, the goods descend a chute to the ground floor, and are fed, by a conveyor passing below, to both ends of a central sorting table, running for the length of the building. Men standing on each side pass them along towards the centre and place them on benches, where the delivery entries are made. Thence they are stacked on shelves backing on to the rows of loading platforms along the sides of the building. Each loading bay belongs to a certain district, and the same van always loads from a particular bay. Being fully conversant with their own area the driver and porter on each van are responsible for loading it. It is up to them to pack the goods in such a way that they are accessible in the appropriate order. For this put,. pose ample space is provided for a process of final sorting during loading operations.
Another detail which undoubtedly contributes much towards the smooth working of the system is that a new porter is set to work with a driver who' knows the area, and it is of interest to note that the majority of drivers has graduated to the position from being porters.
The vehicles mainly used for delivery work from Irongate Wharf Road to the suburban areas, which cover 1,200 square miles, extending so far out as 30 miles or 35 miles in certain directions, are, in the main, Star 20-25-cwt. vans—many of which are 10 years old. There are also 12 Walker electrics with Edison batteries. For transfer work between Oxford Street and this depot there are Stars of 30-cwt. and 2-ton capacity, and an old De Dion 4-tonner.
There are also three depots at Windsor, Watford and St. Albans, for which a van leaves every morning between 7.30 a.m. and 8 a.m. They deliver for six or more stores to various outlying districts.
That the vehicles enumerated afford service which, in the opinion of Mr. F. Eggleton, the transport manager, would be difficult to beat, speaks volumes for their original design and for the efficiency of the maintenance system. This, incidentally, is done by contract, only running repairs being undertaken at the depot.
All vehicles are washed nightly. On the occasion of our visit there were about 100 in the depot and lined up at the loading bays, and they are washed down more or less where they stand.
Although some of the country-going vans may make as many as 140 actual deliveries a day, the transport work done from the depot in Irongate Wharf Road is but a part of the whole organisation, including other Selfridge stores, such as John Barnes and Co., Ltd., Jones Bros., Ltd., Bon 1Vlarche, etc., and its associated house,' William Whiteley, Ltd. In the last-named case furniture removals and laundry work are undertaken.
Recently three tractors of the mechanical-horse type have been acquired for hauling furniture vans, the available cubic capacity of the trailers being of greater importance than the actual weight capacity in this branch of the concern's activities. Here, again, light, fast chassis are giving unfailing service: The mechanical-horse type of vehicle has proved so satisfactory that another is to be purchased. They will gradually replace the older tractors. A feature of the new machines is that they are equipped with large cabs, having a seat behind the driver's seat. in which three or more men can riavel in comfort. They are used only for work within a radius of about 30, miles. Long-dis. ta,nce furniture removal is mainly carried out by 3-4-ton lofries, both rigid and articulated.
Considering all the vehicles of the whole undertaking, the total annual mileage is about 31 mil'lions, and the total number of packages handled between eight and nine millions, the goods including pianos, radio gramophones, turnery, ironmongery, bicycles, bedding and bedsteads, foodstuffs, etc.